Every Pain Worth the Price
by ForeverDivisibleByThree
Summary: One surprise visitor was all it took for Percy to second-guess himself. In a few hours, he find himself in Rockefeller Center with a sore bottom and attitude next to his girlfriend, Annabeth, who is laughing in his face. Percy is torn between enjoying their laughs together or being angered of the fool Annabeth has made him become. PercyXAnnabeth


**A/N I'm back…for like a day or so. Man, it feels good to right some PercyXAnnabeth** **after recent events I won't talk about. Credit for the plot of the story goes to my good ol' buddy **_Kayaille_ – **you, miss, are a ray of sunshine. I should be doing something useful, like finishing my Social Studies cover page or studying for my French final – but no, so while I wasn't studying, I added in some French for the fun of it. But seriously –**_**Je ne veux**_ _**pas **__**é**__**tudier.**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and all of its awesomeness.**

_ ~Every Pain Worth the Price~_

Annabeth and Percy had walked for almost hour just to get to Rockefeller Center. Sure, they had fun – or at least Annabeth had fun watching Percy fall on his butt every time he tried to move. Percy still couldn't help but to ask himself, _Was_ _it worth it?_ as he sat down on a bench by a bus stop rubbing his aching behind. Here's what happened:

Percy was lounging on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa struggling to read a novel for class. It was seven in the morning, and his constant yawns were not aiding his concentration, not to mention the ring of the doorbell.

Not a soul in the Jackson-Blofis household was awake except for the frustrated son of Poseidon in the living room. Percy let out an exhausted moan as he pushed himself off of the cushions of the couch and opened the front door, annoyed. He was greeted by a pearly white smile framed with blonde curls.

"Oh god, Annabeth, it's awfully early, why-" Percy croaked, his brain burned out by the size-one font book, "why are you here, shouldn't you be at camp eating breakfast, looking at doo-hickies on your laptop?"

Annabeth chuckled, looking down at the brown doormat, which read _WELCOME! _with black flower designs wrapping themselves around the letters. She looked up and locked eyes with Percy before saying, "I overheard one of my cabin mates telling a story of how her father used to always take her ice skating at Rockefeller Center. I was just wondering if – you know – we could go together, that is, if you are not busy." She gestured to the pile of blankets on the floor next to a table with a thick paperback and a mug of hot chocolate.

Percy ran a hand through his jet-black hair, "sure, it sounds like fun. That book wasn't really my cup of tea anyways. Though, I think you should allow me to get dressed first." He dragged off before inviting the daughter of Athena in and sprinting to his room. After changing into jeans, a shirt, a hoodie, and a windbreaker, Percy found his appearance comfortable and somewhat appeasing and he hurried back to the living room. Annabeth was flipping through his book until she turned to see the intruder.

"Okay, are we ready to go now?" She questioned looking up at him. Percy nodded and opened the door chivalrously.

"After you, _mademoiselle."_

Annabeth curtsied then jumped out the door waiting for Percy to follow.

An hour. An hour of misty breath and nonstop hour of Percy complaining about the cold and how hungry he was. To put it in other words, it was an hour of near torture for Annabeth – the only thing that lightened it up a little was Percy's hand intertwined with hers and his bright grin that showed up whenever Annabeth spoke.

"So…since when were you interested in ice skating, again?" Percy asked breaking the awkward silence just as they arrived at the rink.

Annabeth snorted as though the answer was obvious, "I just wanted to spend some quality time with my boyfriend, dummy. Why else?" The female demigod sprinted ahead to go get them some skates.

Some people say balancing on the thin blades of the skates if the hardest part of ice skating. To that Percy says_au contraire, _the hardest part of ice skating was getting the dang skates laced properly. Cross it here and make sure it hooks, go in a pattern of one lace to the other, it keeps the laces tighter (a complete myth), with all the instruction Percy's mind was about ready to implode, for he was not able to tie his shoelaces properly until the age of eight.

Annabeth was quick to lace her skates – seeing as her mother is an amazing weaver – and had to tie Percy's right skate as he made an effort on the left. After his skates were tied tightly and they got familiar with the feel of walking on thin blades, they headed out for the massive rink.

The rink was the shape of a huge rectangle surrounded by a frozen railing in which Percy was grabbing onto for dear life. The golden statue of Prometheus stood above the rink in a drape that provided just enough censorship to keep the statue PG. He was in a position that made it look like he was flying with his bed sheet on top of a golden ring. Percy smirked at the statue remembering his run-in with Prometheus during the war, and Percy just had to say it out loud, "You know, Annabeth, what Prometheus foresaw was_completely _wrong. Man, if he was really here, I would be doing a victory song chanting, 'you were wrong and I was right. You were wrong and I was right.' over and over again."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Seaweed Brain…."

Percy must have looked like a coward latched to the railing next to skaters who were doing graceful jumps and dizzying spins. Annabeth was able to skate the full perimeter of the rink before Percy was able to make it across the first half of the length. She got in front of him and began to skate backwards, "C'mon, it'll be New Years before you make it across the whole rink. Grab my arm and I'll guide you."

Percy took her awaiting arm and let go of the railing. Almost immediately after he left the railing, his ankles caved in and he fell backwards on his bottom. Annabeth busted out laughing offering her boyfriend a hand. Percy reluctantly took it and went back to his safe haven known as the railing.

"You'll never learn if you keep using that railing, Percy. Just let go and carefully step one-by-one." Annabeth instructed.

Percy let go, he slowly drifted away from the railing – his knees were wobbly and his ankles were already aching from skating with them moving towards each other – but he managed to move a few feet. Soon enough he lost his balance and went crashing to the ice on his hands and knees.

With a groan, Percy reasoned, "is this really worth it? I know my pain can be very amusing and the least bit attractive, but come on! Why don't we go to a nearby pizzeria instead?"

"No, I didn't go through an hour of your complaints only to leave because you gave up. Now put on a tough face and skate."

_She can be so demanding sometimes, _Percy thought as he pulled himself up and took another chance at the difficult sport. He steadied himself and took slow steps. Before Percy knew it, half of the rink's perimeter had been skated by him and he slightly increased his pace. His confidence soon got the better of him and he challenged Annabeth to a race, in which she gladly accepted.

The racetrack was one lap around the rink, the starting and ending point being where Prometheus's statue was placed. Both demigods assumed ready position and Annabeth counted down, "Three, two, one…go!"

She allowed Percy to dash off ahead for a few yards until she started to skate around the track. It was easy for Annabeth to catch up to her boyfriend. When she was neck-and-neck with Percy, she stuck out her foot and sent Percy tumbling on the white below them. Since her prank was so crude and painful, Percy decided to mess with her.

"Oh, Annabeth stop, I – ow," Percy moaned, holding his wrist. Annabeth whipped around to see what she had caused. "I – I think it's broken."

Annabeth's face fell as she saw the state of her boyfriend, but her sincere eyes quickly shifted into a glare as she spoke, "Stupid, you can't break your wrist, you bear the Curse of Achilles."

Percy cursed under his breath as Annabeth laughed. He stood up again and he and Annabeth skated with Percy's arm draped around her shoulder and hers wrapped around his waist.

They skated around for another hour or so, talking about Percy's school or updating on the hunt for the bronze dragon.

"And for the third Friday in a row, Clarisse threw a hissy-fit because she didn't get to play Capture the Flag. I swear if we don't catch that haywire machine soon, the camp is going to be driven into insanity. Apparently Capture the Flag games also helped people with their 'anger issues'." Annabeth told Percy.

"Hmmph, we should have never saved that thing. I swear Beckendorf could be such a softie sometimes." A brief moment of silence was followed by a fit of laughter.

"Yeah, I'm sure Silena softened him up _real_ well." Annabeth joked.

The couple kept chuckling, that was, until Percy slipped again and Annabeth was put to tears.

"Oh, you clumsy oaf, Seaweed Brain."

Percy rubbed his feet after his skates were finally taken off. If not for the Curse of Achilles, Percy might have had about twenty bruises on his butt, about ten on his knees, and two on his wrists, but even with the curse, Percy's bottom felt like it had been slapped like those uptight mothers did to their naughty children.

"You gonna live, Percy?" Annabeth asked sweetly.

Percy grinned, "No, I feel the weight of the world pushing down on me again," Percy fell onto the ground dramatically. "Tell...my…mom…I love her." The son of Poseidon let all of his limbs loose and he laid on the ground limp, his tongue peeking out of his open mouth.

Annabeth kicked him in the ribs, "Hey, if you don't get up in the next two seconds, I won't buy you pizza."

Percy shot up like a bullet out of a gun, "I have been allowed another life! A second chance to make things right and be a hero! Also to eat pizza." He added in shyly.

The pair slowly made their way to a compact pizzeria in the so-called "ghetto" part of town. A kind waiter with a thick Italian accent showed them their table. This place could be described as the dream school cafeteria: deserts were shown in a display case by the cash register, the fresh smell of baked bread and tomato sauce lingered in the air, and the round table had a checkered table cloth with wooden seats that had surprisingly comfortable cushions on the seat.

There were only three other people in the restaurant, a married couple who had a lit candle in between them and a guy that looked homeless if it wasn't for the wad of cash he was taking out of his wallet. Percy insisted on getting a pizza with extra cheese and Annabeth added some pepperoni to the order.

When the dish came, Percy attacked a slice and began to devour the piece. "Whoa, slow down there, boy, it's not like you haven't eaten for days." Annabeth sniggered.

Percy gave her a playful glare, his sea green eyes sparkling in the lighting that came from the ceiling lamps. Everything seemed as perfect as it could get. No monsters came out of nowhere, disturbing their date, and attacking them. No self-absorbed gods came running to them pleading for the demigods' help. Nope, it was peaceful, relaxing, and it felt good to get the feel of a normal life back.

The pizza was gone in no time. Annabeth had eaten three slices while Percy settled for five. Annabeth and Percy strolled back to Manhattan with a hurry, the whole time they talked about what they hoped for in the future and reminisced on some parts of the past. Time went by quickly and the two demigods found themselves at Percy's home.

"Well, Seaweed Brain, I guess this is your stop. I wish I could stay, but I have to get going – I was supposed to be back an hour ago." Annabeth explained.

"Okay, then, I guess I'll see you during winter break? I'm sure that I'm going to camp because that death-trap known as school is killing me." Percy hugged Annabeth and then pulled back to take one last look at her as if it was going to be his last. "We should do this again some time." Percy said before leaning in gently and softly kissing Annabeth.

He pulled back. Annabeth face was brighter than a full moon, "Definitely."

Once the front door was closed, Percy slid down the wall, dumb-stricken by today's events. He could ask for nothing more but to be Annabeth at this point. Not one thing in the world could tear them apart, and if that did happen, it would be a cruel joke because they would just find each other again.

_Yeah, _Percy thought, _it was – without a doubt – worth the embarrassment._

**A/N So once again thanks to **_Kayaille_ – **and if you are reading this currently, I'll be sure to start my end of the story too. Mostly everything on my account has been put on hold until Spring Break due to butt loads of homework and a Science Fair. Until then, keep yourMcShizzle** **super hot!**


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